Celebrating Līgo and Jāņi at Dzegužkalns Park

We had a wonderful night celebrating a traditional Līgo and Jāņi at Dzegužkalns Park. This picture is as dark as it gets about half an hour after midnight. That glow on the horizon is the twilight of a sun that doesn't go to bed since we don't achieve full night this time of year. What do you do to celebrate the shortest night in a place like Latvia? You sing, dance, eat, and light stuff on fire. If you see one thing in this post then look for the video of the flaming wheel heading towards the bonfire below.

"Jāņi is an annual Latvian festival celebrating the summer solstice. Although astronomically the solstice falls on 21 or 22 June, the public holidays—Līgo Day and Jāņi Day—are on 23 and 24 June. The day before Jāņi is known as Līgosvētki." Wikipedia

The festivities started at 8pm with Jāņi Mother Zoja Heimrāte and Jāņi Father Edgars Lipors opening up with some singing. They bring out more people and there's more singing.

 

about 8:30pm but you see the sun in the trees

  

I cut down probably 20 minutes of video into this, so you're welcome!

set on fire later (the celebrity wood, not the people)

the wheels of fire in hiding because it knows what's coming

nevermind, the people found it and are ready to burn!

10pm and time to light the fires even though it isn't night yet

everyone lines up and makes a path for the fire to roll down the hill guided by chains

adding some wreaths and oak leaf headgear from last year to burn for good luck

here comes the fire!

  there's a little cleared path in the middle for the flaming wheels

  

first the tall thing of wood, maybe to test the fire

 the wheels are ablaze!

Here's 2 videos of the flaming wheels you must see!

(awesome closeup video credit to my wife)

 a scorched earth policy

singing around the bonfire video

   

the wheels are parked

 

Traditional summer solstice songs with post-folklore group Iļģi

We went off to eat and enjoy the bonfire for a while instead of staying at the stage for honoring all those named Jānis. I know several at work so I imagine it took a while to honor them all.

 

cool lights in the park for the trees even though there's still twilight visible all night

Dispelling darkness with new folk group Jauno Jāņu Orķestris

We didn't stay for the rest of the program:
2:00–4:20 Waiting for sunrise with ecological music group “Ducele”
4:20–4:30 Sunrise - Welcoming the Sun together with Jāņi Mother and Jāņi Father

I wanted to see the light set on the backs of my eyelids with the blackout shades of our bedroom instead of welcoming the Sun at 4:30am.